De Nux News

Giffard and Bigallet in Arkansas!

Bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts rejoice, the liqueurs are coming!

De Nux is very excited to announce our partnership with two incredible French liqueur brands, Giffard and Bigallet. Both brands boast over a century of liqueur-producing experience and numerous accolades from industry professionals around the world. Expect to see bottles start popping up all over Arkansas by the end of April!

Here’s a little history:

Èmile Giffard was a pharmacist with an inventive, curious nature and the palate of a gourmand. In the scorching summer of 1885, in the town of Angers, he was studying the digestive and cooling properties of mint. Giffard's research resulted in the invention of a clear mint liqueur, steam-distilled from the Mitcham variety of peppermint. As delicious as it was refreshing, this liqueur was immediately received with enthusiasm from the townspeople of Angers. Monsieur Giffard's elixir was called Menthe Pastille after the mint candies that were so famous at the time.

Giffard parlayed the success of Menthe Pastille into a fully operational distillery. Since 1885, the Giffard facility has produced liqueurs, syrups, cordials and tonics from the rich bounty of local fruits and botanicals that is the Loire Valley, aka “The Garden of France,” as well as the exotic spices and herbs that were brought in by ship on the Loire River from ports around the world. Four generations later, Giffard is owned and operated by brother and sister, Bruno and Edith Giffard, the great-grandchildren of Èmile, who maintain tradition and quality for all of their products.

De Nux will be carrying a full lineup of Giffard Liqueurs with more to be added in the future!

Felix Bigallet created a liqueur and syrup distillery in 1872 located in Lyon (south-eastern France) to supply pubs, inns and the new merchants of the industrial era. In the beginning, Felix only offered his customers traditional drinks such as Bitter, Amer and Quiquina. Due to the distillery’s success and the need for a larger distillery, the company decided to move to Virieu-sur-Bourbe in the Alpine foothills of Isère, a short distance away from the Lyon-Grenoble train station. The railway made the importation of raw materials easier for Bigallet: wine from the south of France, sugar loaves from the Antilles, rum from the West Indies, lemons from Sicily and oranges from Spain or northerm Africa. Syrups became the company's main product, particularly the famous Citronade, a colourless syrup created from lemon zests and sugar cane syrup. Every year Bigallet goes on creating new and innovative flavours, taking inspiration from its own roots in the heart of the French Alps.

De Nux is excited to carry two incredible and unique liqueurs from Bigallet, China-China Amer and Thyme.

We’ve got a bunch of new stuff on the way thanks to our new friends at Back Bar Project LLC, so stay tuned!